street murals

(Above) I've been wanting to create a #FreeAhedTamimi mural for a while, and was inspired by the many artists around the world who've expressed their solidarity with the Palestinian struggle against Israel's brutal occupation of Palestine, and particularly what 16 year old Ahed Tamimi symbolizes to younger and new audiences around the world. The text on the mural reads: "Even Wonder Woman is trained to imprison Palestinian children". (Please excuse the spelling mistake! I have written 'imrison' instead of 'imprison'.)Before explaining why Wonder Woman is used in this mural, Christopher Anderton, from Red Flag writes about Ahed Tamimi :"Ahed Tamimi, a 16 year old Palestinian activist from the village of Nabi Saleh in the West Bank will be sentenced up to 10 years in prison for slapping and shoving an Israeli soldier if found guilty by a military tribunal.""Ahed's situation is commonplace. The Israeli military detains on average two Palestinian teens per night, and Ahed is one of more than 450 Palestinians held in indefinite 'administrative detention'."

To read more of this article, click here.Wonder Woman is used in the mural to satirize the Israeli actor Gal Gadot who played Wonder Woman in the 2017 global movie release. She was trained by the Israeli Defense Force and is known to stand by the IDF's mission of repressing Palestinian people. For the general context of this, you can read this article.​When creating this mural, on an aesthetic level, I chose use a slight bit of anamorphism, where you can view it at the location from an angle where the mural will appear clearer as opposed to if you were standing directly in front of it. This was partly a logistical tactic because you can't really view the whole mural properly when standing directly in from of it because of a lack of space. ​

(below) A tribute mural to hip-hop group A.B. Original ​

(below) Anti-Trump Mural in Melbourne's Censored by local Council

(above) The Censoring of my #Trumptank mural (corner Bunbury and Moreland Streets, Footscray, Australia). Please read this article by Star Weekly for a fuller story and other art that has been censored by the local council.

(below) This mural called "Dutton - Border Stalker" was completed early November, 2017. It is located on a very busy street - the corner of Webb and Smith Streets Collingwood, Victoria, Australia. The mural refers to Immigration Minister of Australia Peter Dutton who is directly responsible for the extremely harsh and violent treatment of refugees on the offshore prison on Manus Island. For further information read this article from Red Flag: https://redflag.org.au/node/5976The text on the mural reads:Dutton Border Stalker. Capability: Terror, Fuel: Racism / Economic Breakdown, Target: Refugees, Cost: $3 Billion p.a.

(below) Below are some pencil sketches that show my concept development for the mural. As you can see, I didn't include the refugees in the foreground in the final mural because I wanted to convey that the viewer was subject to Dutton's wrath.

(below) Mural at my old high school!Here's me standing in front of a new mural (completed November 17, 2017) at Nambour State College, Queensland, Australia. This was the high school I used to go to, so it was a pleasure to create this for the students and staff. I would love to have seen a mural like this being painted when I was a student at this school. This is probably one of my more cryptic murals because of certain constraints placed on the creative process. The mobile phone in the mural incorporates an actual window into it (see early photos of wall in "street mural" section of this site), and I've used this as a tool to delve deep into our consciousness as human beings, alienated and struggling to survive individually inside this harsh, unforgiving economic system called capitalism. The extremely high cost of living (eg. high rent costs) is crippling many poor families of working class background. That's the life of many young people (sadly increasing), yet we're clearly not alone in this, and that's why I've painted the rest of the wall with a large concrete barrier that is being broken by people working together. So, the phone isn't really a bad thing either, as we need it to communicate, and it does spread knowledge quickly between friends about world-wide events. The wall here references the apartheid wall that the state of Israel maintains to crush the freedoms of Palestinians. The wall is also symbolic of the barrier that the US administration uses to crush the spirit of Mexicans as they attempt to migrate over the border into the USA. In a nutshell, the wall represents how the ruling class tries to divide us all, and therefore disable us from creating a better world. ​

(above) View from the left side of mural

(above) Here's me in front (photo by M. Dryden)

(above) Detail of left side of mural

(above) Detail of right side of mural

(above) Here's the wall and the window in the early stages of development

(below) #Trumptank mural hits the streets of Footscray, Australia

(above) Here's a #trumptank mural (10 metres long x 5 metres high) completed early November 2017, on Bunbury Street, Footscray, Victoria, Australia. It features American Footballer and anti-racism activist Colin Kaepernick (number 7) and local Footscray Resident Ricardo Jorquera (second from left). Slowly but surely, I'm introducing more characters into the #trumptank murals and paintings to show that global resistance will hopefully keep growing against the US administration, the capitalist class, and their aggressive agenda waged on the people of the USA and world-wide.

(Above and below)This mural features workers from one of the biggest chain corporations in Australia: Bunnings (which is a subsidiary of Wesfarmers). The hardware store workers have taken hold of some of the tools inside the warehouses to defend themselves against the billionaire corporate rats. It is within the context of the recent official cuts to penalty rates that will see worker's rights to extra weekend pay further reduced. This mural was designed by Van T Rudd and painted on the wall by Van T Rudd and Steve May. The mural is about 20 metres long and 2 metres high. See below the centre, left and right ends of the mural. And see below a short video of the mural and a map link if you'd like to know its exact location.

(Above) Bunnings workers against the bosses and cuts to penalty rates (right side of mural) (May 2017), by Van T Rudd and Steve May

Where to find this mural? It's close to Northcote Train Station, on Scott St, Northcote, Melbourne, Australia (See google maps below). If you're too lazy to go to the exact location on foot, you can see it from the Train as you go by!

(below) Trump-Tank image is finally a mural!

(Above) The Trump-Tank has finally become a mural. it was exhibited from April 13th to April 16 for the annual Marxism Conference 2017, in Melbourne along with great murals by Sam Wallman and Slimone. Over 1,000 people attended this unique and radical left wing event.Although this mural was indoors, the next one will be in a public place. I will keep you posted. Cheers.

(Below) New #CUB55 mural at Trades Hall, Victoria, Australia

(Above and below) This 15 metre long mural at Trades Hall Victoria (carpark) commemorates the victory of ordinary workers versus the ruling elites. It is based on the sackings of 55 Carlton United Brewery workers (#CUB55) by the CUB corporation. The workers were invited back to work on a 65% pay reduction, but they said NO and with the help of their unions waged a fight back using strikes, pickets (see images below) and boycotts to force the company to allow them to go back to work with full pay and conditions. Well, after 6 long months...they won. I was fortunate enough to be invited to paint the initial protest murals on the picket site shipping containers (see images further below). The image below show the mural at Trades Hall in its entirety.

Where is this mural? See below for exact location of the mural (Victorian Trades Hall carpark)

(below) Murals in support of the #CUB55 completed (dec 2016)

(above) This is me at work painting a mural during the #CUB55 protest (2016)

(above) October 17th 2016 - I Finally got this mural done for the #CUB55 ! at the Abbottsford brewery protest site, Melbourne, Australia. The protesting CUB (Carlton and United Breweries) workers and supporters are going strong after 55 workers were sacked and invited back to work but with a 65% pay cut.

(above) This photo was taken right at the end of the protest campaign, December 2016 at the Abbottsford Brewery site. That's why there's no one around. This particular mural makes fun of the Carlton Draft (beer) Draught horses. The normal logo show them strong. Here they're weak and dying of thirst.

Where are these murals now? See the pictures and map below - they're now safely at the CFMEU (Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union) Education and Training Unit, 262, Port Melbourne, Victoria Australia.

(Below) Donald Trump spews hatred from a pile of money

(above) This mural was completed in 2016, not long after Trump had won the US Presidential Elections. It has since been painted over by the local council. The owner of the fence has fought the local council to have the mural re-installed. So far the council has admitted they erased it and have sent apologies to the house owner, and it looks like I will be able to re-install this mural! I hope it happens! Once it is re-installed, I'll put its exact location here should you want to see it.

(below) Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are sinking on the same expensive yacht

(below) Refugee mural in Melbourne's western suburbs

Oct 2016 - This mural on a fence in west Yarraville, Melbourne, Australia (not there now unfortunately) supports the rights of refugees to seek safe asylum around the world. This particular one is based on Syrian refugees escaping war and taking perilous and desparate journeys toward European shores where they are treated like vermin.

(above) A rough sketch of the refugee mural

2014 - This mural was part of a larger collaborative work with Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students from the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA). The mural was outside the VCA on a construction wall and it clearly stated its support for the campaign against the racist closures of Aboriginal Communities (in Australia). It was a VCA Student Association project with the support of the Wilin Centre, VCA.

Karl Marx once said:

The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it "